


Little Monkey

by sunalso



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Bananas, F/M, Grandpa Phil - Freeform, Halloween, Impossible verse, Leo Fitz needs a Hug (and kisses), Promptober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 18:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20952788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunalso/pseuds/sunalso
Summary: Cassie's first Halloween means shopping for costumes, and actually having to wear them.





	Little Monkey

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LibbyWeasley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibbyWeasley/gifts).

> _A big thank you to aserenitatum for the last-minute beta! Written for aosficweek2's Promptober 2019 for day 8: costume shopping. Thank you to Libbyweasely for the prompt!_

“Da?” Cassie burbled, craning her neck in her car seat as Fitz backed the van into a parking spot. The parking lot was full, and the Halloween store looked packed. 

“Why is everyone here on a Tuesday?” Jemma asked, glaring at the crowd. 

Fitz made a face. “It’s the Tuesday before Halloween.” 

The holiday fell on the coming Saturday, and somehow time had gotten away from him and Jemma. They’d stocked up on candy last week for all the trick-or-treaters they were expecting at their house, and Jemma had done a fine job making the place look fantastic, but that still left costumes. 

For all of them. 

The three of them were going out on Halloween night, along with Coulson, while May was staying home to hand out candy. Coulson had insisted he come to see Cassie dress up, and then spent twenty minutes on video chat cooing at her while she babbled and showed him all her toys. The process had been repeated the next day when Cassie had asked over and over for her Pa-pa, which Jemma had figured meant Coulson when Cassie had seen Fitz’s tablet and tried to lunge out of Jemma’s arms to get to it.

Coulson had been tickled pink. 

Fitz turned the engine off and jumped out to get Cassie while Jemma organized her bag. He swore Jemma carried enough with her at all times to care for an entire flotilla of wee children for a month. 

“Da-da?” Cassie said again, clutching Mr. Ears in her hand as Fitz lifted her into his arms. 

“What’s up, monkey?”

She opened her mouth and pointed at it. “Ah-ah-ah.” 

“You are a bottomless pit.” Fitz held his hand out to the side without looking, and several cheerios were immediately set into it. He held them up to Cassie, his palm flat, and with a look of fierce concentration that was so much like her mother’s that Fitz’s heart lurched a little, Cassie pinched each piece of cereal one by one and placed them in her mouth. 

“You’re so good at that!” Jemma said, beaming at her daughter while shouldering her purse-slash-diaper bag-slash-emergency-survival-gear. 

Fitz kissed Cassie’s cheek and inhaled deeply, loving the sweet baby scent of her. Cassie was the best thing to ever happen to him, though she was tied with Jemma. His now wife Jemma, who made him glad Cassie had started sleeping soundly through the night because Jemma was rather…insatiable. She wore him out frequently. It was like heaven.

He no longer wondered how the future versions of themselves had ended up making a baby following a world-ending apocalypse. Jemma only had to look at him while thinking vaguely sexy thoughts, and he was ready to go. Somehow, he didn’t believe the future version of himself would have a better lid on any of that. 

“Fitz,” Jemma said, playfully pushing at his arm as he opened the door to the Halloween store for her. “None of that.” A faint pink stained her cheeks, and he grinned because she knew he’d been thinking about her. 

“What if you dress up as a sexy scientist?” he asked. 

“I dress up as that every day.”

He chuckled, the sound trailing off as the full force of all the Halloween contained inside the store hit them. 

Cassie wobbled in his arms before hiding her face in his neck. Fitz didn’t blame her. The place had spooky music, swirling lights, there were ghastly sounds coming from the corner where the animatronics—gah, he could do so much better—were housed, and fog billowed out of several different machines. 

“Over here!” Jemma chirped in a too bright voice that meant she wasn’t thrilled with the hubbub either. He followed her around a corner into a less intense children’s section that let him breathe a sigh of relief. 

“It’s okay, monkey,” he whispered to Cassie. “You’re safe.” 

She peeked, then sat up, her eyes scanning until she found Jemma. “Mama!” 

“Yes, mummy’s here too.” 

They wandered through the rows and rows of packaged costumes while older kids laughed and charged up and down the aisles while tired looking parents clomped after them. 

So much choice. How was he supposed to decide? “I have no idea,” he murmured to Jemma as worry tugged at his gut. “I bet future me would.” 

“What?” Jemma, holding a little cowgirl costume, glanced at him. His eyes went to the floor. It was a well-trodden fear, that this other him that had been able to bend time and space and make Cassie was somehow a much better version of him. “He’s literally you. And we both did what we had to so that Cassie would be able to wear silly costumes and eat too much sugar.” 

Fitz blew out a breath. 

“Da-da?” Cassie patted his face. Her tiny nose was wrinkled up, and she leaned in to give him a kiss. It was clumsy, and more a head butt than a smooch, but the effort made him smile. 

Jemma pushed up on her toes and did the same to his other cheek. “That’s right, Cassie. Sometimes Daddy needs his girls to remind him how very kissable he is.” 

He nearly said he didn’t deserve either of his girls, but the thought didn’t make it past his lips. His future self had believed that the best place for Cassie was with him and Jemma. That was a ringing endorsement from someone who knew all of Fitz’s fears about fatherhood. 

“Not as kissable as my girls,” he said, loudly kissing Cassie and making her belly laugh. He pecked Jemma’s lips as well. “Thank you.” 

She patted his chest, then returned to squinting at the rows of costumes. “I should have made a plan,” she said, putting the cowgirl costume back. “This is more overwhelming than I anticipated.” 

“Muh, muh, muh!” Cassie said, grabbing at Fitz’s shoulder and waving her other hand. 

“What’s you?” Jemma asked. 

Fitz would swear she spoke baby. 

“Muh!” Cassie kicked her legs enthusiastically as Fitz and Jemma looked at where her attention had focused. 

“I know,” he said, striding forward and grabbing a monkey costume. “Does my monkey want to be a monkey?” 

She clapped her hands and patted the bag when Fitz held it up so she could see better. It was silly looking, but Fitz felt certain he’d buy her a million just like if she wanted. 

He passed the costume off to Jemma, who frowned at it. “It’s not very realistic.” 

“I don’t think that’s going to matter,” he said. The brown suit had a tail and a hood with ears. Cassie would be adorable in it.

“You’re very right. It’s much less distressing than some of those animal ‘skeletons’ they sell this time of year.” She’d made exaggerated air quotes for the word skeletons. 

He bumped her shoulder with his in commiseration. “Now what about us? Are we going to be animals too?” 

Jemma pursed her lips. “There are a few adult costumes here.” She nabbed a bag and held it up. Cassie went wide-eyed and started giggling. 

“A banana?” he asked. “Are you mad?” 

“Ma-Da,” Cassie said around giggles. 

“You want mummy and daddy to be bananas?” Jemma asked. 

Cassie giggled harder. 

“Well,” Jemma said, wrinkling up her nose. “I guess it’s decided. Now let’s get our little monkey to her photoshoot.” 

****

The doorbell rang for the first time on Halloween afternoon, and Fitz hurried to open it, his costume nearly tripping him.

“Coulson, May, I’m so glad you’re here,” he said, letting them in. 

“What are you?” May asked with an arched brow. 

“A banana.” 

Coulson patted his shoulder. “You’re a great dad, Fitz.” He glanced around. “Where’s my girl?” 

Fitz knew he was being dismissed, probably for the rest of the night. “Jemma will be right down with her.” 

Decorations covered the living room, and May made appreciative comments while Coulson impatiently watched the stairs. Jemma appeared in her own costume, carrying Cassie in her monkey suit. 

She squealed when she saw her Pa-pa and wiggled frantically until Jemma could hand her over. 

May immediately joined them, and Cassie babbled loudly in joy. 

“I think we’re both chopped liver,” Fitz said with a laugh. 

“We most certainly are.” Jemma opened the door to the patio to let in the fresh, salty air from Puget Sound. The sun was nearly set, the last rays turning the water bright shades of orange. 

Fitz leaned close to his wife. “I find you very a-peel-ing.” 

Jemma gave him a pointed look, which he counted as a victory. He’d been working on his dad jokes. 

“What are you two?” Jemma asked, turning to May and Coulson. May was in red from head to toe, and Phil had on a dapper orange-brown suit and hat. 

“Peanut butter and jelly,” Coulson said, bouncing Cassie in his arms while she grinned from ear to ear. Fitz shared a smile with Jemma. “Didn’t realize we’d be so thematic.” 

Jemma laughed. “Cassie picked everything, and she hasn’t stopped being thrilled since we all got dressed up.”

“Ma-Da…BA,” Cassie said loudly, then broke into giggles. 

“We are certainly bananas,” Jemma said. “Isn’t she clever? I should warn you she’s figured out crawling and will take off like a shot now.” 

His daughter developing the ability to be self-mobile had terrified Fitz. The house had every conceivable piece of childproofing in place, including a dozen he’d invented himself. 

“Next it’ll be driving,” Coulson said proudly. 

Fitz’s heart sank at the thought of his baby behind the wheel of a car. 

“Not for a good, long while,” Jemma laughed. “So, don’t look like that, Fitz.” 

May smirked. “Don’t be a sad banana.” 

Cassie puckered her lips. “Da.” He took her from Coulson, and she gave Fitz a clumsy kiss on the cheek. Jemma put a hand on his arm and kissed the other side. 

Every muscle he had relaxed. He had lots of time to invent security measures for a vehicle before Cassie turned sixteen.

“Candy time?” he asked her. Cassie’s eyes lit up. 

Fitz kissed her forehead and silently thanked the version of himself that had given him this life, this family, this joy. 

This chance to make a nicer world for all those he cared about. 

This chance to go tramping around his neighborhood with the love of his life while dressed as bananas to get free sweets. 

Things couldn’t get any better. 

Jemma leaned against him as he carried their daughter out into the evening. She spoke quietly into his ear, “I want another baby.” 

Bloody hell, he’d been wrong. Things could get better. “Are you going to be a banana split later tonight?” 

She snorted. “I’m going to be top banana.” Fitz laughed. His wife was the best.

“Hey, guys,” Phil said as they walked down the pavement, which was still damp from a late rain shower. “What do you call two banana peels?” 

“Oh no,” Jemma groaned. “It’s catching. I’m going to be surrounded by dad-jokes.” 

“Buh?” Cassie said, tilting her head. 

Phil grinned. “Slippers!” 


End file.
